Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (2024)

SUMMARY: The cares —including suffering—of God’s people have both a present blessing and a future hope: as our Creator and Lord uses tribulation to keep pointing us to His faithfulness.

GOAL: That my hearers will understand that though Christians endure tribulations and anxieties, God cares and has promised to see us through.

MALADY: We often recognize no logical value in Christian hardship.

MEANS: Our faithful Lord cares deeply for us, has called us, has placed us under His mighty hand; therefore, He will see us through the trial.

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There is a common greeting when we first interact with someone: “How are you today?” Maybe we have not seen them or talked in awhile, so we may very well start off our interaction with: “How’s it going.”

It’s a common greeting, but for the one who is going through a struggle or tribulation, it might be a dreaded greeting; “Great!, Now I have to spill the beans on stuff I really don’t want to talk about or understand myself.” So, the response is the typical, “I’m fine,” because who wants to tell or relive the story one more time?

It is a natural tendency to view hardship and difficulties as valueless, for this is how the world views these things. Our Lord and Creator however uses suffering to prepare and purify His people for the end, as well as to give them blessing and glory right now. This is hardly nonsense, even though Christians may ask how hardship can be called glory. And yet, the Lord uses these things to “humble us under His caring, mighty hand, because He cares for us.”

This leads us to our theme, Divine Counsel for Troubled Christians.

Let us pray: “These are Thy Words, O Lord. Help us, and Sanctify us in the truth; Thy Word is truth. Amen.

Today’s Gospel reading illustrates this caring, mighty hand of God. It begins with these words: “As soon as they left the synagogue.” You recall last weeks Gospel reading? Jesus stands up in the synagogue and begins to teach the sweetsmelling aroma of the gospel. The devil and his minions can’t handle it because our Lord, Christ Jesus, is crushing the work of the devil.

Immediately when they arrive at Peter’s home and learn that his mother-in-law is dreadfully sick. Jesus simply took her hand to help her up and in the process was fully restored, proven by the fact that she immediately starts to serve her guests. This news spread and then a multitude of people showed by at the Peter’s front door. They brought the sick and the demonized, and Jesus restored them too. Weary from this ministry Jesus goes off by Himself to pray, only to be found by the disciples who inform him that “everyone is looking for you.” But, they left via another route because others had to hear the saving message of the gospel.

This brings us to our Epistle reading where Peter is talks about the caring, mighty hand of God in the midst of our trials, tribulations, and sufferings.

Cast Your Anxiety Upon God

We remember the victory of Christ who suffered with a purpose.

Our hardship has a purpose too, it is an indication of Christ's blessing.

We know that the Lord will be at our side when we are insulted on account of our relationship with Him.

This presence is a great blessing.

his presence brings us glory.

We acknowledge that even though we may experience pain and hardship, our place in the “household of God” (1 Peter 4:17) clinging to our baptism will lead us to endure and rejoice.

Nevertheless, we are to be sober (self-controlled) and alert (watchful, vigilant).

The devil prowls around like a roaring lion in an attempt to devour us.

His goal is to ruin the faith we have in Christ.

His goal is to seal our soul, by causing us to conclude that God doesn’t care, that He isn’t listening to our prayers. That “if He really cared, __________ would not be happening to me.”

Yet, these kinds of things we share with our brothers and sisters in the faith throughout the world. They, too, are enduring the same sufferings as you and me.

Yet, the Devil tries to convince us that we are alone, “So, don’t bother others with your problems.” However, God knit us together as a body and calls us to not neglect gathering with other believers, so that we can brings encouragement to one another.

God want us to know that we are not alone. We are part of His great household, filled with others who are going through the same challenges that we are.

Therefore, we can now cast all our cares on Christ, knowing that He cares for us.

We are being humbled under the mighty hand of God, just as Christ Jesus was humbled, laid aside his royal robes, put on human flesh, and suffered and died so we would not have to.

God will see us through it all, because He cares for us, and

He Cares for You

He will restore us

He will strengthen us

1 Peter 5:10–11 NIV84

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

I suppose it is natural to view hardship only in a negative way, but we have the assurance from our faithful God and Creator that suffering for Jesus' sake is our blessing, glory, and preparation for the end, because Christ Jesus has called us to His eternal glory.

Though we go through difficult times and are being attacked in many ways by the devil, God has promised that in the end He will restore us, make us strong, firm and steadfast.

And though the world may wonder how we, in the midst of hardship that creates anxiety for so many, that we can be at peace, we can now point them to Jesus. With God’s promise that He will restore us and make us strong, we can now respond to the casual “How are you today” with a joyful: “It’s been pretty rough lately, but God has promised to restore and make me strong, firm and steadfast.”

This means we no longer need to avoid gathering for worship with other Christians, because we know that we are not alone with our suffering. That we are all going through this together. Most importantly, Christ give us His very self in His body and blood to encourage us in the faith and to forgive us our sin when we failed the test when the devil came at us.

We can talk freely about how the Devil is messing with us, and can solicit prayers, encouragement, and advice form other believers on how they have resisted the Devil.

You see, our faithful Lord cares deeply for us, has called us, has placed us under His mighty hand; therefore, He will see us through the trial.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.